Martin's chairman has big appetite for books

October 23, 2006|ANN LEONARD Tribune Correspondent

Bob Bartels "can't remember not reading." Reading was part of the family. He has read countless books and says, "The sum of that experience is a major ingredient of what I am." Bob is chairman of Martin's Super Markets, founded almost 60 years ago by his wife Nancy's parents, Martin and Jane Tarnow. He reads anytime he is not otherwise occupied, and always at night. "I'm an eclectic reader, from really neat stuff to escapist trash," he says. "I always have a book handy." One of Bob's earliest childhood books was "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" by Beatrix Potter. Nancy has framed three "slightly worn" pages from the beloved book, and the collage hangs in their living room. Bob's parents were educators and books were always available. When he was very young, Bob remembers his parents reading aloud the adventure stories of Richard Haliburton, who climbed the Matterhorn and Mount Fujiyama in bad weather, swam the length of the Panama Canal and flew in a two-seater open cockpit biplane called the Flying Carpet. As Bob grew older, he read all of the books in the popular "Black Stallion" series by Walter Farley, "Black Beauty" by Anna Sewell, and his favorite, "Big Red" by C.W. Anderson. Bob continues to be interested in horses and recently read "Horse Heaven" by Jane Smiley. "You follow six horses through their careers and while reading the book you get an idea of the inner workings of the thoroughbred horse industry," he says. One book he found years ago in his son Rob's room was "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu. Although it was written in 6th century B.C. China, Bob thinks its practical suggestions and strategies can be applied today to business. Bob has long read books by Harry Levinson, an industrial psychologist and consultant. He is a widely known speaker and author of "Executive Stress" and many other publications. "He's a resource person who can explain what makes people tick in a business environment," he says. Nancy and Bob have two children. Rob, married to Ann, is president of Martin's. Amy and husband Jim Stoll live in the Chicago area. Between the two couples, there are seven grandchildren. Reading is part of Bob's genetic makeup. His paternal grandfather, Carl Bartels, was a voracious reader and learned about the world through books. After eighth grade, Carl apprenticed as a carpenter in the town of Nettlingen, Germany. When he decided there was no future for "a peasant kid" in a stratified society, he immigrated in 1901 to St. Paul, Minn., and entered a Lutheran seminary. He received a calling to become a circuit-riding minister, and traveled in the Dakotas ministering to Germans. All his life he continued to read and learn. "Education was the key," grandson Bob says. Bob attended grammar school in Cincinnati, and high school in DeKalb, Ill., before going to Purdue University. He then went to work for General Electric. Martin and Jane Tarnow at that time had just two stores, one on Portage Avenue in South Bend and one in the Parkmor Plaza in Elkhart. Martin wanted help, and Bob had the financial and management skills to supplement Martin's merchandising and advertising know-how. Bob says, "I knew I didn't know how to do it, but Martin did." So Bob and Nancy moved to South Bend in 1964. "The strength of Martin's is in the people -- in the store and the customers," he says. Anyone who knows Bob is aware he loves to fly. One of his all-time favorite books is "West With the Night" by Beryl Markham. Markham was English, but grew up in East Africa from age 2, bred horses and became an African bush pilot. She was the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic west to east. Her clear elegant prose reads almost like poetry. The harrowing book "The Unknown Battle of Midway: The Destruction of the American Torpedo Squadrons" by Alvin Kernan is one Bob will not forget. "There was a point when a squadron of torpedo bombers attacked the Japanese carriers and maybe one guy survived. "The author listed each of the names of those 30 men in the torpedo squadron, and as I read each name and hometown I asked myself, what made them do it? What do we Americans owe those men?" "Flight of the Intruder" by Stephen Coonts, a former Navy flyer, is a book of fiction about an A6 Intruder pilot during the Vietnam War. The realism of maneuvering to land on the relatively small deck of a carrier "made the hair on my neck stand up," Bob admitted. Bob also is a fan of the series of books written by Bernard Cornwell featuring the fictional Richard Sharpe, a British soldier in colonial India and an infantry officer during the Napoleonic Wars. The books are a fascinating blend of military history, penetrating character analysis and military intrigue. Other authors Bob enjoys include James Clavell, who wrote "King Rat," "Shogun" and "Tai-Pan"; Newt Gingrich, who wrote "Gettysburg," "Grant Comes East," and "Never Call Retreat: Lee and Grant: The Final Victory"; and Jeff Shaara, who wrote "The Last Full Measure."